The Window
by FaerieRing
Summary: What if Wendy promised to always leave her window open? What if she forgot?
1. Forgotten

Wendy looked out her window after Peter left &amp; wondered when she would see him again. Her family rejoiced behind her, but she was deaf to their merry making as she stared into the night, until Nana pulled her back into the fray. She hugged her parents, &amp; her &amp; her brothers promised to never run away again. However, to Wendy, those promises were hollow, for she had already pledged to remember &amp; follow Peter Pan if he ever again came through her window. &amp; so, she left the window unlocked.

Her adventure in Neverland stalled her father's decision for a little while as he &amp; Mrs. Darling celebrated the return of their children. However, three months after her return, Wendy was moved out of the nursery. She now had a room of her own, &amp; no one was allowed in without her permission. She still played with her brothers of course, but now she would leave the nursery for her own room after story time, instead of crawling into bed with them. But, despite the changes, Wendy still walked through her days to the sound of faerie bells &amp; left her window unlocked. Still waiting for her sprightly friend.

The years passed &amp; many things changed. John &amp; Michael moved out of the nursery as well, &amp; stopped asking for stories, claiming they were too big &amp; grown up for such nonsense as faeries, mermaids &amp; pirates. Wendy grew as well &amp; her bookshelves, once filled with once upon a times &amp; faerie dust, were now cluttered with makeup &amp; fashion magazines as Wendy strove to become an upstanding young woman in British society. Wendy began to forget about Peter &amp; her promise to remember, pushing them away as a dream too silly &amp; fanciful to be real. She took to latching her window most nights, wondering why she ever left it open in the first place. Still, something pulled at the back of her mind &amp; Wendy would unlatch the window the next morning, though only to "air out the room" of course.

&amp; so, the years passed.

Peter was happy. He had been very busy cleaning up the pirate's mess &amp; taking care of the Lost Boys, but now everything had been put to rights &amp; he was finally free to do as he pleased. Leaving Tink behind to watch over the Boys, Peter flew off into the night.

His first stop was the Darling residence. Only a few months or so had passed in Neverland (for one must remember that time passes differently there) &amp; so he expected to find Wendy &amp; her brothers in their nursery, perhaps still awake &amp; reading stories if he was early enough. He was certain though, if they were asleep, they would not begrudge him waking them. They seemed to like his adventures too much to stay mad.

When Peter got to London, it was already dark &amp; so was the Darling house. He peered through the nursery window &amp; was startled to see that Nana's doghouse had been removed &amp; the only bed in the room was Wendy's, now sporting a young boy who looked nothing like John or Michael. Peter was confused. Where were John &amp; Michael? Who was this stranger in Wendy's bed? &amp; most importantly, where was Wendy? He went to open the window to ask the stranger, but found the glass would not move! The window was latched! Worried now, Peter flew round to Mr. &amp; Mrs. Darling's window to see if he could get in there, but found the room empty &amp; the window once again locked.

He began to fly around the house looking for an occupied room, until he found one across the hall from the nursery. Inside there was a young couple was sitting on a large bed, looking down on the bassinet that sat beside it. The woman looked vaguely familiar, but did not notice Peter. The window in this room was locked as well, &amp; so Peter began banging on it, trying to catch the couple's attention. They did not move however, until the banging woke the toddler in the bassinet, who then started hollering.

The woman picked up the child &amp; rocked her as she walked towards the window, assuring the little girl that the noise was only a branch knocking the windowpanes. The little girl however insisted in a sleepy babble, that there was a boy peering in, a boy with red hair &amp; green clothes. When they reached the window, the woman paused, searching for what her daughter had seen. Peter stared at her as hard as he could; hoping she would see him &amp; help him make sense of what was going on. For a brief moment he though he saw a flicker of recognition in the woman's eyes but after a few seconds she shook her head &amp; turned away as her husband called out to her, "Come back to bed Wendy, Sarah probably just imagined it. She'll settle down in a moment." Peter Pan stared in shocked silence as Wendy put her child to bed &amp; climbed into her own. At that moment, a realization hit him. Wendy had broken her promise, for she could not see him, &amp; the window was locked.


	2. Unlocked

He knew she had forgotten. He knew it was better, for both his heart &amp; sanity, if he stayed away, but he could not. Wendy was the first person outside of Tink &amp; the Lost Boys to believe in him whole-heartedly, &amp; so every few months he would return to stare through the windows of the Darling house longingly. Not that it was called the Darling house anymore. Wendy had married a strapping young lawyer named Edmund Smith &amp; the house was now in his name. As were the two children, Jack &amp; Sarah.

As the years stretched on, Peter continued to visit the Smith residence, but as time passed, it was less to see Wendy &amp; more to see her children. When Wendy was a teenager, she had told her neighbour, Mr. James Barrie about her &amp; her brothers' adventures in Neverland, recounting them as a very involved bedtime story they had created. Mr. Barrie had been delighted by the story &amp; had had it published under his name, &amp; the story had become a staple in the Smith home. Jack &amp; Sarah would beg their mother to read them Peter Pan again almost every night, regardless of how many times they had heard it before.

Wendy would smile fondly as Jack recounting dreams of slaying pirates with Peter most mornings, but when Sarah was asked about any Neverland dreams, she always became standoffish, stating that Neverland was not a dream, but rather a place awaiting those who truly believed. Wendy would then get a wistful look in her eyes as she remembered a time when she believed as much as her little girl did. Pulling herself out of her thoughts, she would shake it off &amp; laugh, patting her disgruntled daughter's head as she remarked that if the whole world had as much faith as Sarah did, it would be a much better place.

Peter often missed moments like these, having flown back to Neverland at the break of dawn. It would have done his heart good to know that someone still believed in him. But, seeing no point in causing himself more pain than necessary, Peter usually flew to the nursery window after the children had been put to bed, &amp; left just after the sun rise, not wanting to see their familial happiness, knowing that he could not join them. He always stayed the whole night though, just floating by the window or sitting on the sill; acting as a guardian angel to Wendy's children whom he had never met, yet were so close to his heart.

One night however, Peter got to the window earlier than usual. Slightly had been getting into trouble with the Indians &amp; Peter had been too fed up to deal with him, so he had left early. The sun was just setting as Peter neared the Smith house &amp; for the first time in years, Peter saw the children more than half-awake. Jack was putting his clothes away in the laundry hamper before climbing into bed, but Sarah was standing in the middle of the room in her forest green nightgown, arguing with her mother. They were speaking loud enough that Peter could hear them through the window.

"You will keep that window closed, &amp; you will do as you're told Sarah Jane Smith!" Wendy growled in frustration, "It is winter, it is cold &amp; the world is not as friendly a place as you seem to believe. That window is to stay latched every night unless I tell you otherwise. Do you understand!?"

"Yes mother." Sarah ground out in a faux calm voice, looking up at her mother defiantly, "I understand."

"Good, now get into bed." Wendy said as she went to the window &amp; hooked the latch, which had until this point been undone. "Goodnight Jack, darling, goodnight Sarah, dear." She said softly as she walked out of the nursery, turning out the light as she went.

After a few minutes, Sarah sat up in her bed &amp; looked around the room with a clear, sleep free gaze. Jack had fallen asleep quickly as he always did &amp; it would take a bomb going off to wake him now. Keeping an ear out for her parents, Sarah slipped out of her mother's old bed &amp; quietly glided over to the window seat. Sitting for a moment, she closed her eyes &amp; folded her hands as though in prayer before opening her eyes &amp; searching out the second star to the right. Smiling, she began to talk to the thin air.

"I don't know if you're there, but if you are, you must be bored of hearing me talk all the time. I have missed you. I always sleep better knowing you are there. I wonder if you have been off having a new adventure for me to add to my storybook. I do hope the snow does not bother you out there." With a fond smile, Sarah began to turn away from the window &amp; get back into bed, flicking the window latch up as she went. Pausing before she climbed back under the covers, Sarah turned to look over her shoulder at the window once more &amp; called softly, "See you tomorrow night Peter."

Peter was sitting still as stone above the window where he had fled when Sarah neared the window seat. She was talking to him. She thought he was real?! How many times had she done this? How many times had he missed her, arriving late enough that she had already returned to bed? A sudden thought struck him. Sarah had unlatched the window as she walked away, despite her mother's orders. How many time had the window been unlocked &amp; simply waiting for him to pluck up the courage to try &amp; open it?!

Thoughts slowly driving him mad, he flew down from his hiding spot &amp; stood on the sill, cautiously eying the window. He gently nudged it with his foot, barely daring to believe it when the glass budged. Feeling surer of himself, he pushed on the glass fully &amp; entered a room he had not been in in nearly twenty years. It was different now, Nana's doghouse had been replaced by a toy castle &amp; where Michael's cot once sat was now a large bookshelf stuffed full of storybooks. Scanning the titles, Peter noted some of his favourites that Wendy had read when they first met all those years ago. Looking down the shelves, he noticed that there was one book missing from the collection, one that was very important in the Smith household from what little he had seen of their waking hours.

"It is right here," A voice called out softly from behind him. Turning quickly Peter was startled to find Sarah sitting up in bed staring at him fondly with a soft smile as she clutched a large illustrated version of Peter Pan to her chest. "I keep it under my pillow. I never sleep without it."

Approaching Sarah warily, Peter took her in properly for the first time. She had her mother's face, but long back curls poured down her back instead of brown waves &amp; a pair of startlingly bright green eyes stared into his brown ones.

Smiling, Sarah quietly repeated the very words that had started the adventures long ago. "Little boy, why are you crying?" she asked with a soft smile as Peter reached up &amp; touched the wetness on his cheek in shock. He had not realized he had started to cry at the, oh so familiar scene.

"I guess I have been lonely." He said as he hesitantly took her hand in his own &amp; led the unresisting girl over to the windowsill as he had her mother so many years before.

"Well that will not do." she replied with a teasing smile as she stepped onto the sill with Peter, gripped his hand tighter &amp; prepared to leave her world behind. "My name is Sarah Jane Smith &amp; I think it's time for your loneliness to end."

"I'm Pe.."

"Peter Pan." Sarah said, cutting him off gently, "I remember you. You are my best friend, my guardian angel."

Staring at her in shock for a moment, Peter flashed Sarah a blinding smile &amp; took them off flying into the night. As they near the second star to the right Peter could not help but think that this time was going to be better than the last. This time, instead of someone using him to run away from their problems, he had someone who had been waiting for him &amp; always would.


End file.
